Review by valerie_elmen -- A Bloody Book by Chris Bowen

[valerie_elmen]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Bloody Book" by Chris Bowen.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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At what point does a person stop caring? How does that impact the trajectory of his or her life? These are the questions Maxx, a middle school student, comes face to face with in A Bloody Book by Chris Bowen, a former teacher himself.

Maxx came to accept it. He is a low student who is put every year in a low reading class that he likes to call Reading Hell. The students in this class do a pretty good job of running off most teachers who attempt to teach it. That is, until Mr. Foxx steps in. They don’t know what to do with him. On the first day, he is already yelling at them like a maniac. Also, get this. He actually, out loud, calls them stupid. This gets the class quiet for the first time ever for a teacher. Over the next few days he uses unique techniques to show students that they’re in Reading Hell by their own responsibility. They had stopped caring. He teaches them that they can only start making real improvements in their lives once they are willing to acknowledge what moment caused them to stop caring.

Being a teacher myself, what I really loved most about this book was how accurate the portrayal was of the perspective of a student living in poverty. The author does a great job of showing what growing up in the public school system is like while being poor. This book shows that there is way more that goes on in a student’s life than just what a teacher sees at school. It helps prove the point that home life can affect school life.

There was nothing that I disliked about this book, which is why I am giving it a 4 out of 4 stars . The editing was done very well. I found very few errors. It was also a real page turner. I had no problem reading through this book quickly. Once I started, it was hard to stop. I could feel myself getting emotionally involved with the story and it’s characters.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to enter the education field. It helps you gain compassion for students, and it opens your eyes to the reality of students who don’t have the best home life, or who grow up living on welfare. This book may also make you a little introspective. You may start asking yourself if there was ever a time where you stopped caring.

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A Bloody Book
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